Drone

There’s supposed to be the drone of the ancient pipes in the voice, accompanying the song. Some people have it, and some don’t. It’s supposed to be a great honour… Ewan Mac Coll told me I have it… It helps me balance … the lines are linked to one another. … I can actually feel that they’re (the pipes) there. In fast songs you don’t impress it the same as you would in the slow ones. The same pulse all the way through. Something you cannot change.’

Notes

The whole issue of ‘drone’ (and the associated term-of-art, ‘nyaah’) first arose during Joe’s long conversation with Ewan Mac Coll and Peggy Seeger in 1963-4.

This was recorded when Joe Heaney was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington.